With its announcement today, the Omaha Cricket Association declares its intention to develop a youth player pathway that can become a model for every league and club in the United States. Rather than maintain a loosely affiliated youth program that has little connection to the adult teams, OCA will create a comprehensive player development pathway designed to nurture youngsters from first exposure to cricket all the way through to the First XI.

In much the same way as is done in highly developed cricket nations, this youth development system promises to not only grow the game among young people, but also assure the future success of America’s adult game. Congratulations to Bhaskar Setti and the Omaha Cricket Association.

Here’s the official announcement:
The Omaha Cricket Association (OCA) is pleased to announce that it will create an in-house youth development program that will ultimately split into U-11, U-13, U-15 and U-17 teams. The intention of the OCA is that the young players it develops will one day play on the OCA 2nd XI, and then compete for spots on the OCA First XI.

OCA has, for many years, been involved in outreach to youth in the Omaha area, delivering cricket sets and instruction under the auspices of the USYCA. These efforts will continue, however OCA now looks to reap the first harvests of these efforts by coaching these children directly through its own youth development and player pathway system.

Omaha Youth Cricket Association (OYCA/OCA) committee member Bhaskar Setti said, “OYCA had conducted a total of 38 cricket camps for 4184 children, 642 (coaches/P.E teachers/parents), 30 schools ( 1 school board included), 16 community centers and 1 church in past 3 years, and plus additional youth institutions and schools still in the pipeline.

“Our records and hard work show our commitment to develop cricket from the grassroots level. Our partnership with USYCA has accomplished greater heights in reaching out to communities to develop the sport of cricket. OYCA and USYCA have donated more than 60 cricket sets to children/schools/community centers until now and will continue to do more in the future.”